Ticketmaster to Require Negative COVID-19 Test Before Attending Concerts

Ticketmaster announced a new plan that will affect how we attend concerts and events.

We all miss concerts. Nearly every concert in the U.S. has been canceled from the end of March 2020 to now. I personally had tickets to three concerts and one sporting event and they were all canceled for this year. But now, ticket companies are trying to make a plan to get concerts and events going again.

The New York Post reports that Ticketmaster is developing a plan to check concert-goer's COVID-19 diagnosis and vaccination status. Ticketmaster plans to have concert-goers verify on their cellphone if they have been vaccinated for COVID-19 or if they have tested negative for COVID-19 within the past 72 hours.

According to The New York Post, Ticketmaster will not store or access medical records under the plan. The plan is still being worked out and will use three separate components. It will use Ticketmaster's digital ticketing app, third-party health information firms, and testing/vaccination distributors to accurately tell if someone has been vaccinated or tested negative. Concert-goers would have to tell the lab to send their test results to the health information firm, which would then tell Ticketmaster if they are negative or positive. Anyone who tests positive or doesn't get tested will not be allowed in the venue.

The New York Post also reported that the digital ticketing app will eliminate the need for paper tickets. Ticketmaster believes this will stop tickets from being resold. It's unclear when this new plan will be implemented. But it's also unclear when concerts will come back.